Mattabesset

June 14, 2020
We put in at the upper end of this section.  It was an exceptional day of calm air, mid 70 temperatures and sun with large billowy clouds.  Other people had the same idea and we waited a few minutes for people that don't believe in viruses to move out of the way.  I suspect that there will be fewer fishermen when the pandemic subsides.

the open marsh

There were a good number of Great Blue Herons and it appears that the abandoned Bald Eagle nest might have been taken over by Osprey. 

This is a freshwater tidal marsh and the tide was low enough to expose at least one entrance to the Tepee (beaver) Lodge.  The sides of the entrance were squared off as if it had been dug with a backhoe.

Beaver lodge entrance

We made our way to the big river and paddled up the inner channel of the long island that guards the mouth of the Mattabesset.  At the upper end we could see that their were too many motorboats in the main channel to make circling the island pleasant, so we retraced our route.

S spotted a beaver just short of entering the open marsh.  It looked to be two to a few years old, not small nor particularly large.  It dove with a tail slap and did not resurface within sight of us.